UConn President, Officials Address Monday's Postgame Campus Behavior

STORRS, CT — University of Connecticut President Radenka Maric Friday released the transcript of a letter sent to the UConn community about the post-game vandalism and other acts of "poor behavior" that occurred late Monday on campus after the men's basketball team won its fifth national title.

In addition, she distributed a letter from the UConn University Safety department that was sent directly to all UConn students Friday.

UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said that, as of Friday afternoon, no additional arrests had been made beyond the 15 announced Tuesday (14 individuals, one of whom was arrested twice), but officials said investigations remain active.

Damage estimates also are still being compiled, Reitz said.

Here are the letters:

To the UConn Community:

As we said on Wednesday, it was a pleasure to welcome our championship men’s basketball team home earlier this week.

Unfortunately, following those well-wishes, we must address a much more unpleasant issue, which is the conduct of some of our students and others on the Storrs campus after the game ended.

To be absolutely clear: The vast majority of our students and visitors celebrated in a way that was safe, fun, and good-natured. They did nothing wrong. However, a relatively small number put themselves and others in danger, and in some cases actually injured people, by vandalizing parts of the Storrs campus. In addition to being wrong, their actions embarrassed our men’s basketball program, our university, our state, and themselves.

Our team conducted themselves with class and dignity every step of the way. The behavior of those who damaged our campus after the game was the exact opposite: reckless, irresponsible, and disgraceful. Members of the team have also expressed their disappointment about this to us directly.

That anyone would “celebrate” their team winning the NCAA tournament by vandalizing that team’s campus, and their own, is infuriating, unacceptable, and perplexing.

Equally perplexing is why anyone would commit crimes in full view of multiple university cameras, and, in some cases, while being recorded by others on cell phones from multiple angles – footage that quickly found its way to social media and elsewhere. This makes the task of identifying some of those responsible for damaging our campus easier.

Several people, most of them students, were arrested on Monday night. UConn Police continue to investigate to determine who was responsible for the egregious acts of vandalism in Storrs.

After our championship win in 2014, some students similarly vandalized our campus and were arrested, in some cases, days or even weeks later. A number were expelled. The same will be true this year: In addition to facing arrest, any student found to have caused damage to the campus or otherwise violated the student code of conduct will also face university sanctions up to and including expulsion.

Finally, we are a public institution – the state’s flagship university. A good portion of the infrastructure on our campuses is funded by capital dollars provided to UConn by the State of Connecticut, which gets its funding through the taxes its citizens pay. The costs to repair and replace the damage done will be extensive and will consume funds that could otherwise be used to meet the needs of our students.

Just a few weeks ago, several hundred of our students stood before the State Capitol and urged the legislature to address the potential shortfall in our funding. They did so because the university doesn’t just matter to them; it matters to the citizens of the state; it matters to the thousands of alumni who continue to support the university through their philanthropy and attendance at events; and it matters to all those future Huskies who look to us as examples.

We will not allow the poor judgment and bad behavior of a small few to diminish the accomplishments of our student athletes or take away from the vast majority of our students who celebrated responsibly and respectfully.

We want to thank UConn’s Division of University Safety, including our police, firefighters, dispatchers, emergency management staff and other support staff, and the Connecticut State Police for all of their hard work on Monday night and every day.

We also want to thank UConn Facilities Operations for all their work as well. They are the men and women who worked through the day and night to clean up the messes and repair the damage.

It is regrettable that the actions of a few cast a pall over what was a great victory and a wonderful occasion.

Radenka Maric, President

Anne D’Alleva, Provost & Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Michael Gilbert, Vice President for Student Affairs

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The UConn Police Department is actively investigating the criminal activity which occurred after the game on Monday night.

There are numerous videos and photographs circulating on the internet and social media sites which clearly show people engaged in criminal activity on the Storrs campus. Police investigators have collected and secured these images as well as video from the university security camera system, all of which is evidence that will be used in the criminal prosecutions of these crimes.

Investigators will work to identify those who are engaged in criminal behavior. As part of the identification process, it may be necessary to post images and videos online and on social media of people engaged in these acts to solicit information to help us identify those who caused damage. In many cases, the images are in high resolution and the individuals in them can be seen clearly.

In advance of posting these videos and photographs, we are offering an opportunity to those who may have engaged in criminal activity to proactively contact police investigators to provide their information and describe their conduct.

To be clear: This is not an amnesty program. If the conduct you relate to police investigators is deemed a crime, they will apply for an arrest warrant and, if approved, you will be arrested. If you are a UConn student, the arrest information will be shared with the University.

This is a chance to take responsibility for your actions and be an informed participant in the process, rather than waiting and wondering when police investigators will be visiting you.

If you have information you would like to share with a UConn Police investigator, please contact Lieutenant Peter Harris at peter.harris@uconn.edu or call 860-486-4800.

Hans Rhynhart, Associate Vice President, University Safety

Chief Andrew Fournier, Interim Police Chief of Administration, UConn Police Department